Manhattan’s streets aren’t as busy as they used to be. The pandemic is responsible for the silence. The pandemic is also responsible for a possibly permanent shift in the way people work here. Manhattan welcomes a remote work culture. Most businesses in some of the biggest cities in the USA are following a remote work model.
From Spotify and MediaMath to Salesforce, everyone’s ditching sprawling buildings and acres of land to enjoy a better work-life balance via a remote working model. Remote work was considered a “short-term” solution to the pandemic. Now, it is becoming the norm.
“Going back to the office with 100 percent of the people 100 percent of the time, I think there is zero chance of that,” said JPMorgan’s co-president and COO in an interview on CNBC in February 2021.
So, what are the giants doing with their large office spaces? PricewaterhouseCoopers and WPP have given out their spaces to subtenants.
According to an analysis by Kastle Systems, a security company, only 15 percent of employees have returned to New York City offices and commercial spaces the surrounding suburbs, up just a little from 10 percent in summer 2020.
Companies across industries have realized the benefits of remote work and the various advantages it brings to the employees and employers. This has resulted in businesses in Manhattan, small and big to permanently shift to a remote work model.
“We believe that we’re on top of the next change, which is the Distributed Age, where people can be more valuable in how they work, which doesn’t really matter where you spend your time,” said the vice president of human resources at Spotify, Alexander Westerdahl. Spotify has a workforce of 6500+ employees across the globe.
With leaps in technological advancement, there is a gamut of virtual communication tools that can be used by businesses. Remote teams can easily collaborate and work in a virtual environment. The need for a brick and mortar setting is gone and a better work-life balance is every team member and employer’s choice.
With businesses in Manhattan making the move towards imbibing a remote work culture, other cities and states will certainly follow suit as aggressively too. It’s a matter of time before the “digital nomad” lifestyle becomes the only lifestyle and with all the perks that come with it, why not?
